Lecture Note 8

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School

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Department

Communication Studies

Course

COMM 101

Professor

All

Semester

Fall

Description

Comm102 – Notes 8 – 2.13.14
Media Violence
• FBI Crime Clock (2011)
o Every 26.2 seconds: One violent crime
 Every 42.0 seconds: One aggravated assault
 Every 1.5 minutes: one robbery
 Every 6.3 minutes: One forcible rape
 Every 36.0 minutes: one murder
o Every 3.5 seconds: One property crime
 Every 14.4 seconds: one burglary
 Every 44.1 seconds: one motor vehicle theft
• Adult Correctional Population
o US adult population in 2011 (est.): 239MM
o In 2011, over 6.98 million people were under some form of correctional
supervision.
• Factors That Increase Violence
o Provocations and frustrations
o Poverty
o Easy access to guns
o Drug and alcohol use
o Gang involvement
o Parental neglect
o Violent media
• Gallup Poll
o 61% of Americans there is too much violence on TV
o 58% of Americans think there is too much profanity on TV
• Measuring Violent Media
o The Payne Fund studies
o Content analyses of prime­time television in the 50s and 60s  When tv began to become popular
o Message system analysis by cultivation researchers (beginning in 1967)
 Activating something
 We see the world and understand it differently because of the
media and what we watch especially violence
o National Television Violence Study (October 1994 – June 1997)
• Defining Media Violence
o National television violence study
 What exactly is violence?
• Any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force
• or the actual use of such force
• intended to physically harm an animate being or group of
beings.
 Certain depictions of physically harmful consequences against an
animate being or group that occur as a result of unseen violent
means
• Ex. The baby sitting in pool of blood would still count even
though we didn’t see the violent act
• National Television Violence Study
o Four universities
 U of California, Santa Barbara
• Violence in entertainment programming
 U of Texas­Austin
• Violence in reality­based programming
 U of Wisconsin­Madison
• Violence ratings and advisories
 U of North Carolina­Chapel Hill
• Anti­violence public service announcement
o Sample
 23 channels on television
 7 days; 6 AM – 11 PM
 Nearly 10,000 hours of television programming
• Violence in the Media (NTVS)
o The typical program contains at least 6 violent incidents per hour.
• Most violence on TV is sanitized
o No physical harm or pain to the victim (51% had no pain, 34% had little
harm)
o No long­term consequences (16% had long term)
• Much of the serious physical aggression on television is trivialized
o Quite violent (26% with gun, 54% lethal violence)
o But, with humor (42%)
• High­Risk Contexts o Five key elements of context that make people susceptible to negative
effects
 A perpetrator who is an attractive role model
 Violence that seems justified
• NTVS Year 3: Nearly 40% the violent acts were perpetrated
by "good" characters. Problem because viewers become
more susceptible to negative effects
 Violence that goes unpunished
• NTVS Year 3: Even when the perpetrators of violence were
"bad" characters, over 40% went unpunished.
 Minimal consequences to the victims
 Violence that seems realistic to the viewer
PPT 2
Some Myths about Violent Media
• Myth #1
o The level of violence in the mass media simply mirrors the level of
violence in the real world.
o What you’re seeing on tv is what you’re going to see on the streets
• From the Network Officials
o “Americans are reluctant to accept the images reflected by the mirror we
have held up to society.” — Leonard Goldstein, ABC
o “We live in a violent society. Art imitates the modes of life, not the other
way around. It would be better for Congress to clean that society than to
clean up the reflection of that society.” — Zev Braun, CBS
• Crime News (Graber)
o Disconnect between reality and what’s reported in the news
• The most violent ghetto isn’t in South Central L.A. or Southeast Washington
D.C.; IT’S ON TV
o “The most violent ghetto isn’t in South Central L.A. or Southeast
Washington D.C.; it’s on TV. About 350 characters appear each night on
prime­time TV, but studies show an average of 7 of these people are
murdered every night. — Michael Medved, Film Critic
o “If this rate applied in reality, then in just 50 days everyone in the United
States would be killed and the last left could turn off the TV.” — Michael
Medved, Film Critic
• Myth #2
o Violent media decreases aggression.
• Catharsis Theory
o Acting aggressively or even viewing aggression purges angry feelings and
aggressive tendencies or drives
o It provides catharsis.  By watching violent media, people could be relieved o